I have always looked upon my experiences here in Ecuador as nothing short of an adventure.....a "re-conquest". You will find that this Blog not only offers information on how to live, invest or simply visit Ecuador (rated the number one retirement heaven by International Living magazine for 2011) but also informative information and articles on how to survive in this fast changing and volatile World we live in. Your comments are welcome!
colonialquito@yahoo.com

El Conquistqdor Francisco de Orellana

The Conquistador who put the Amazaon baisn "on the map"....Francisco Orellana

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The Empire Strikes back....

Last week, we were thinking about how democracy...or any government...operates on the basis of shared emotions, or feelings, rather than real ideas. We explored the public’s contemporary narrative on the financial crisis. What we saw is that a common view of what is going on — in order to be commonly shared — has to be stripped so bare of nuance and paradox that it ceases to be an idea at all. It is just a feeling.

And sometimes, it becomes a grotesque, simpleminded fantasy that it is actually the opposite of the original thought or desire behind it. It becomes a zombie thought...actually harmful to the group that holds it.

If you follow the popular media, for example, you would think that the US is engaged in a war against “terrorists”...bad people, who for a reason never explained, aim to do harm to Americans. These terrorists are so evil they must be stopped...at all costs.

“It’s a war,” says US Attorney General, Eric Holder. So, he explains, we can set aside the Constitution and the Bill of Rights — the very things we’re supposed to be defending — to fight it.

Thus is the US military industry set to the task of protecting against “terrorists”...with the solid support of the American people. An announcement at the Ft. Lauderdale airport on Friday told us that “military personnel can board at their leisure.” They got the treatment normally given to paying business class passengers! On one plane, a stewardess invited military personnel to take the vacant seats in the business class section. And it was reported last week that of all America’s public and private institutions only the military retains the confidence of the general population.

But if you bother to study the situation at all you quickly realize that it is not terrorists who pose a threat to the US, it is the US military itself. The Pentagon has gone rogue...now it is a danger to the nation.

Terrorists are insignificant. Trivial. You could fit all of them in a mid-sized movie theatre. And half of them — like Osama bin Laden himself — are so infirm, insane or incompetent that they are completely incapable of doing any real damage to the world’s only super-power.

The US military — along with its suppliers, security agencies and all the rest of the lethal establishment meant to protect America — is big. And very expensive. Like a parasite, it drains energy and resources from its host — the productive US economy. The total cost, fully loaded, is about 8% of GDP.

America is, of course, no normal nation. It is an empire. The cost of running an empire is high. But empire is supposed to be a paying enterprise. An empire takes tribute from its vassal states in exchange for providing protection. That’s how all empires worked.

The US empire, on the other hand, loses money. It conquers foreign nations...but it fails to make money at it. Instead of sucking resources from its vassal states, it takes resources from the American public. It is no longer protecting the nation; it is endangering it.

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Click on the photo for a map of the neighborhood of San Marcos and the vacation rental Casa de Carondelet

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Carondelet.....Quito and New Orleans

Francisco Luis Hector, barón de Carondelet (born in 1748 of Flemish descent in Noyelles-sur-Mer, Flanders) was named governor of El Salvador in 1789, and was a Knight of Malta. After his term had ended, Spanish authorities named Carondelet governor of the Spanish Colonies of Louisiana and West Florida from 1791 to 1797. He then served as the last Noble Governor of the Spanish Colony Real Audencia in Quito from 1797 to his death in 1807.

Knights of Malta

click on photo for the complete history on the connection between New Orleans and Quito by Baron de Carondelet

On Carondelet in New Orleans, Louisiana

Click on photo for the map of the Spanish Colony in 1797 Governed by Baron de Carondelet

About Me

I have lived in Ecuador since 2001 and have been offering our services to foriegners wanting to not only visit Ecuador...but purchase property for a new life. My Ecuadorian wife and I are busy with three wonderfull children but are also busy with our coffee shop, farm, and statue export business. Furthermore, we have been offering Traditional Roman Catholic Pilgrimages to Ecuador for the past 7 years. There are many historical and artistic aspects of Ecuador that are impressive. But for me...it is the humility of the Ecuadorian people, which is most alluring. We invite you to come to Ecuador and experience the old world culture, faith, and beauty of this very special land !

Ex-pat relocation services

We will share with you our 10 years of experience living in Ecuador as well as introduction to lawyers, off shore bankers (Panama accounts with reps in Ecuador...sorry no US Residents), Ecuadorian bankers with US and European relations, architects, tax accontants, other expat investors in Ecuador, and real estate tours.